On a Wolf and a Whim
by Literary Litany
Summary: There are two things strong enough to take on the Beast. But could those things cost the universe its protector? Started post- Imp. Planet, Some TenRose, Bad Wolf story suggestion by my friend, AU now. Old fic not up to my current par. Ignore it please.
1. Part1

**Summary:** Spoilers for The Impossible Planet. There are two things strong enough to take on the Beast. But will saving the universe one more time cost the Doctor and Rose their lives? Some TenRose, Bad Wolf story suggestion by my friend

**Disclaimer: **Doctor Who and all characters therein belong to the BBC, not me. Nor do I make any money for the writing of this fanfiction, so please, no lawsuits.

**A/N:** Give it a read and tell me if you think it's worth continuing even if this Saturday's episode completely obliterates it.

Rose Tyler didn't save people. She helped the Doctor, did as he said, and trusted in him explicitly. On her own she just felt like a lost sheep, unable to help herself, let alone all the people in the universe who needed helping.

But the Bad Wolf. Now that was a different story.

The Bad Wolf was always brave, always hid. It was darkness, and it was light.

And right then, it was needed. Rose needed it. The Doctor needed it. Because only the Wolf could speak to the Beast. Only the Wolf could speak and survive.

The Bad Wolf was needed, and the Bad Wolf would come.

* * *

She slipped to the floor, cold metal digging into her back. She didn't want to die. Especially not cowering. What would the Doctor do? He'd die fighting, that was what.

But Rose had never been very good at being the Doctor. She had tried once, and nearly doomed the earth. She'd been laughed at.

_Rose…_

There was a faint call in the back of her mind, and she managed to wrench her eyes away from the corridor filling ever so slowly with Ood. Red eyes gleamed as they came closer and she tried to make herself smaller. She didn't want to die.

_You don't have to, Rose._

The voice was disturbingly familiar, though from where she couldn't think. But it was in her head, and it sounded strong and wild. Strong enough not to die like she was going to. Whatever it was, it would fight. The Doctor would have fought. But not Rose.

_Let me fight for you, Rose Tyler. Let me fight for you and your Doctor._

Yes. Her Doctor. She couldn't die. He'd blame himself, like he blamed himself for Reinette. Another knife between the ribs.

_I can fight, Rose. Let me fight._

Yes. Let the Wolf fight the Beast.

* * *

He faced the rather imposing figure and gulped. He wasn't often afraid. It took a lot of something rather hard to place to make him afraid. Age perhaps. Time.

The Doctor knew, better than anyone, that Time was Power. And the Beast standing before him had a _lot_ of Time. So much Time that even the Time Lords had chopped up his existence to simple coincidental myth. Where the Gallifreyan had nine centuries, nine quick spans of a human generation. The Beast was beyond generations, beyond ages, beyond eons. The Beast just _was_.

Or that was what he said. When faced with that sort of very impressive introduction, the Doctor had a number of possible reactions all floating about in his head. He could cower in fear, like the thing probably expected him to do, but he'd never been very suited to cowering. After all, that might get his space suit dusty, and he'd promised Rose he'd bring it back in one piece.

No, he decided, not cowering. A good show of hopelessly ignorant bravado then? Right on the mark!

"Bollocks." The Doctor said flippantly, his hands perched defiantly on his hips. "If you're a God. Or Anti-God, or whatever it is you're claiming to be, then why would you need them?" He gestured vaguely to the human woman to his left. He didn't know what she was doing inside that rigid spacesuit, but he had a suspicion she was wetting herself.

"They are the first to be vessels of my will. More will follow."

"If." The Doctor grinned and pointed a finger in the air as a gesture of revelation. "You can get off this planet. That's what the black hole was for then, am I right? A prison to keep you stuck in between the universes forever. Where even all your Time has nowhere to go unless it wants to get sucked into nothingness."

The Beast took a menacing step forward, and the Doctor guessed he'd hit a nerve. Comforting to know the thing had nerves though. That meant it felt pain, and things that felt pain were generally easier to kill or intimidate. He was hoping for the former as the latter was looking neigh impossible. Then again, this was an impossible planet.

"I am awake. I shall rise from my prison. The legions of the Beast rise to make war on God."

"Oh, puh-lease." The Doctor said in his best imitation of an incredulous school girl. A great, fiery dark claw snapped idly at the Beast's side, and something between a hiss and a growl seeped past its fangs.

"Insolent Timeling! I will send your race back into the slime for such insult."

The Doctor's laugh at this was mirthless and hollow. "Afraid I beat you to it then. They long since died. Bit behind on the news, are we?"

The Beast looked about to reply(The Doctor had picked out a pattern to facial expressions that only made everything it said that much more hilarious), but it stopped. The massive, horned head swiveled up toward the direction of the base. Something that sounded suspiciously like a howl echoed down the shaft that lead to the planet's center.

A soft whistle like something moving through air echoed after and the lifeless body of an Ood crashed on top of the lift that had brought the Doctor down the shaft. Two more followed shortly.

The sound of machinery followednot longafter, though what came down looked more strung-together than his TARDIS console. A maintenance lift?

He froze the next second as he recognized, with chilling familiarity, the figure standing on that lift. Rose.

How?

The first thought crashed on him as he stared in utter and complete disbeliefwas thatthe living, breathing(without a space suit?) girl who he knew couldn't possibly be standing there. But she was.

Or was she?

"You are the Beast." The voice is strong and wild and echoes before and after the words that are spoken. It isn't a question, but a challenge. The Doctor shudders. Now he is afraid. Afraid of the Wolf, of the Beast, and of the Impossible Planet.

He is afraid of Rose. _For_ Rose. Because she doesn't have thirteen lives, and he has already given up one for her.

But there's nothing he can do. He's not even sure a given life will save her this time. It's up to her to save herself.


	2. Part 2

**On A Wolf And A Whim**

**Part 2 **What You've Got to Offer

_By Literary Litany_

* * *

Rose was everywhere. Every_when_. But the moment she felt that somehow familiar sensation she was ripped from it. She felt a mind brush against her own, keeping her from that broad expansiveness.

_Rose Tyler. You are not strong enough to face it. Not yet. But we are._

_We? _

I am the Bad Wolf. You are the Bad Wolf.

_You're… me? _

No, I am what the universe made of you. I am the Bad Wolf. I create myself.

And she suddenly understood.

"I looked into the TARDIS, and the TARDIS looked into me…" It had said. She could remember now, almost as if it were her, but still not quite in the right perspective. For her own protection, she was reminded.

"That was the Time Vortex, Rose. No one's meant to see that." Her old Doctor had said that, and he had been right. No Human could see what she had seen and not go mad. So the Doctor took it from her, helped her forget. But the memories were still there, still alive. Still the Bad Wolf.

Rose felt dizzy at the idea, or she would have if she could feel the physical sensation. That was blocked off like the rest of it. She should have been afraid. It was logical since she didn't have control of her body or, it looked like, her mind. But she could still feel at least some of that human yet alien mind, and knew without a doubt that all the Bad Wolf wanted was her safe. Her and the Doctor safe.

Safe from the Beast…

She tried not to panic, to focus on staying safe away from all the information available that would drive her insane, just like the Bad Wolf had said to do.

But the Bad Wolf was distracted now, by its confrontation with the Beast, and she sat in her own little corner of that mind with all the information of the universe floating by.

Surrounded by the universe, and yet totally alone, Rose considered that maybe for once she knew what the Doctor felt. It was a humbling feeling to say the least. She just wished she could know…

She felt a memory of the Doctor brushing by and snatched at it without thinking.

_A tall man with a messy mop of curly brown hair is seated in a chair near the TARDIS console. It doesn't look like the TARDIS she knows so well, but it feels the same. It is the same, like the man in the chair is the same as the man she knows. He's fiddling with a piece of crystal or stone or glass or plastic. It changes every time it moves. The man is thinking this is fitting. Time is always changing. Alive like his TARDIS. Fitting the key be the same. She knows, somehow, that he is about to find out how true that is. How alive the Key really is. Astra is about to teach him._

She felt dizzy again as she recoiled from the memory when it threatened to tell her more than she could know at once. Rose remembered the man: The Doctor, and something about a Key… But the rest faded back into a haze. Unscathed from her first experience, or at least mostly, Rose felt a greater curiosity burn. All of the universe, just floating by…

* * *

"I am before the Universe!" The Beast's face shifted into a menacing snarl, the echoing boom of its voice running along the great cavern's walls. Rose stood, looking infinitely small in front of the looming giant, but her expression didn't waver.

"I am the Universe." Came her calm, but somehow equally demanding reply. The voice was Rose's, but more than that. A Time echo. Sound echoing not just after the event, but before as well.

The Doctor froze. That shouldn't be possible. Unless Rose still had a direct link to the Time Vortex, she wouldn't be able to manipulate time. Direct link to a Time Vortex, which would still be in the TARDIS, which would mean…

He frowned accusingly into the darkness before hazarding another look at the Beast and Rose. Neither appeared to be moving, but he could feel the psychic tension. Both were brimming with Power, and they were busily trying to sum the other up to figure what kind of damage an outright confrontation would cause.

Something like that would definitely kill Rose, and probably take this planet with her.

Which meant the Doctor had to think very, very fast if they were going to make it out of this alive. He had a bargaining chip somewhere around here, if he could find it…

Bingo!

Now, if he could tell Rose to-

He bit his lip as he eyed the rigid body of his companion. She was in no condition to listen to him, especially if she was thinking of handling this all on her own. So he turned an appraising look at the awed human-in-a-space-suit next to him. He placed a hand on her shoulder and spun her around to face him, peering through the panes of glass separating them.

"Ida. You've got to listen to me." He spoke evenly and calmly, and was glad to see the wild look left her eyes somewhat. "My ship is down here, it looks just like a strange blue box, but inside there's…" He trailed off at the look of disbelief and confusion she gave him. He bit his lower lip and gave an exasperated sigh. "Just… give Rose this if she starts talking about me. Can you do that?" He pressed a spare TARDIS key into her gloved hand and pinned her with an intense stare until she nodded.

Without another word, but one final look at Rose, he forged off into the darkness.

* * *

The Bad Wolf felt the Doctor leave and a glimmer of confusion struck. It wasn't used to not knowing things, and she certainly didn't know why the Doctor would be _leaving_. The Doctor was always a wild card element, but couldn't he stay put for her? Trust her? It was here to protect him. He and Rose safe was all it wanted.

_Then I will leave this planet. You may keep the human girl and her Time Lord. Keep them safe._ Came the Beast's whispered and much smoother mind-voice. The Wolf let out a low hiss.

_And why would I trust you to do this? _It sneered, but not without a considering tilt to the borrowed head. _Are you not the Great Deceiver?_

_You do not have to trust me. Merely do not stand in my way._ Its voice was coaxing, and the Bad Wolf considered.

The thing before her had an evil purpose, but destruction would occur in the universe with or without the Beast's interference. There would still be worlds for Rose and her Doctor to save if the Beast was set loose. There would still be worlds they couldn't save, even if the Beast was kept down. Bad Wolf had seen how great the universe was, after all, and the Beast, unlike the Wolf, was still confined by Time. Was the harm that great if it could protect the two that really mattered?

* * *

**A/N:** Well, I continued… Not sure I'm very happy with how things are going a little fast plot and flow-wise… sigh Oh, well. If you have any suggestions, I'm open to them. I think I'm pretty set on a solid update-weekly schedule, though I may be a day late next week. I have a history paper due. Reviews are very much loved, especially in the form constructive criticism.

Speaking of which, to all my reviewers so far: THANK YOU! I LOVE YOU ALL!

Special thanks to KatmuEllon for the AU suggestion. That option completely slipped my mind. Which is what I get for impulse-posting. Feel free to smack me thoroughly.


	3. Part 3

**On A Wolf And A Whim**

**Part 3 **Of Plans and Their Holes

_By Literary Litany_

* * *

The Doctor felt the jarring of each step in that strange different sense of gravity that came with being so close to a planet's center. The dust still scattered at his passing though, and he still came down again after each step up. He ground to a halt when he felt that familiar pulse of warmth against his chest. The burn of his TARDIS key that meant his ship was close. On pure instinct he went to the crumbled wall on his left, tossing away rocks indiscriminately.

He let out a short exclamation of triumph as he came against the smooth surface of blue-painted wood. It only took a few more minutes to clear the door, but he felt the weight of those minutes as if they were hours. Every second brought Rose closer to an abyss even he couldn't pull her out of. He practically fell into his time ship, stumbling to the console as he readjusted to the gravity.

That was about when he noticed what felt so wrong about the whole situation.

The TARDIS was fine. He could tell she felt a little bit rubbed at having fallen into a chasm, but otherwise completely normal. No gaping hole where the Time Vortex should be.

Well, that certainly complicated things.

He frowned in confusion even as he moved to mechanically throw switched and press buttons that would get them moving again. He still had to go after Rose, but now he was faced with a big mystery that threatened to put a big gaping hole into his formerly clever plan.

If Rose wasn't drawing from the Time Vortex, if that wasn't where the Bad Wolf was getting its power, then where was it coming from?

His scowl deepened when he once again encountered the TARDIS' reluctance to materialize so close to a black hole. His hand froze above the final switch at that thought.

Black Hole. Singularity. The Universe's Big Drain.

The ship gave a violent shake as it landed a little less than gracefully at the given co-ordinates, sprawling him forcefully onto the floor even as a grin plastered itself onto his face. Oh, forget his last plan. This was even cleverer.

* * *

"Rose would not have me let you go…" The Wolf admitted, stance now less challenging though no less confident. "The Doctor would sacrifice them both to stop you."

"But you are wiser than the Time Lord. He overestimates my importance, and underestimates his own. You know that." The Beast also looked less intimidating now, and the Wolf could almost swear its features were becoming more human by the minute. It was all imploring persuasion.

Yes. She knew more than the Doctor could. He was still mortal, after all, and that was why the Bad Wolf existed. To protect the Doctor and his Rose, because they were important. They mattered.

But this thing was dangerous. How dangerous she wasn't sure, and that was even more worrying. It didn't know enough about the Beast to make an informed decision. What was it, truly? What did it want? Could it be controlled? Beaten?

No answer was definite enough.

* * *

**A/N:** I AM A HORRIBLE, TERRIBLE PERSON! I know I'm late, and the chapter is short. SO SO SORRY! I got sick and had to work on my history earlier this week, and this weekend I procrastinated like a n00b. I'll be gone all next week though at RYM, and figured this short little bit is better than nothing… I hope. Please don't hurt me.

Thanks to all my Reviewers! You guys are fantastic! Glad you guys like my handling of Bad Wolf… I wasn't so sure, and I'm a little shaky on the writing of it, as you can tell with this last bit, but as always the Doctor's return should fix everything. I hope. Heh.


	4. Part 4

**On A Wolf And A Whim**

**Part 4 **Expectations and Farewells

_By Literary Litany

* * *

_

The Doctor picked himself off the floor with evident purpose, throwing switches on the TARDIS before he had even completely found his feet again. The time ship thundered ominously, which he took to mean she'd figured out his plan(probably cheated and read his mind), and thought, like he was almost positive of, that it was insane.

He didn't listen though, locking in the co-ordinates so even he wouldn't be able to deviate from the set course once they took off again. Once this started, there couldn't be any turning back. More than Rose's life hung in the balance here, and he _had_ to be right about what Bad Wolf was. There was no option about being wrong at this juncture.

The TARDIS hummed in agreement. She thought he was right, but this was still very, very dangers. Tricking two beings with the knowledge of millennia at their fingertips wasn't a task even this Time Lord was willing to take lightly.

A surge of power from outside the ship reverberated through the control room, and the Doctor managed a grim smile. "I think that's my cue."

He felt his ship give a final whir, which he took to mean something along the lines of 'break a leg' and he pelted through the two double-doors.

What he found didn't totally surprise him. Rose lay unconscious in the dust, no faint golden glow or super-human strength evident in her suddenly very frail frame. She was near the pit, which he noted with some uncertainty was closed as tight as it had been when he and Ida had first stumbled upon it.

That was another thing. No Ida in sight.

"I'm sorry…" He whispered, pausing a moment before moving forward again and kneeling by Rose. She was deathly pale, but he found her pulse quickly enough, its beat erratic but strong. He swept her into his arms then, giving the large cavern and pit a final sweeping glance before turning back to his ship and pushing them both inside.

He laid Rose carefully on the couch seats by the console, hesitating a moment before turning back to the controls. "I'm so sorry, Rose." He muttered bitterly, throwing the first few switches with a great deal of reluctance. "You shouldn't have to risk yourself like that. You shouldn't have to risk losing who you are." His breath hitched, and he paused over the button that would take them away from that impossible world. "Well, you won't have to again. I'm taking you where you'll be safe. Where you belong." He took a deep, preparatory breath, about to bring his hand down when there was a sudden gasp behind him.

Rose sputtered and coughed her way to a sitting position, only to be impeded by the Doctor encasing her in a big bear hug. He babbled in a long string of words she barely understood as thankfulness for her being alive. "And don't ever do that again!" He said fervently and much more intelligibly.

"Do what? What happened?" She asked, reluctantly pushing him away a bit so she could look him in the eye.

"You don't remember anything?" He asked carefully, waiting for her answer with bated breath.

"Not really…" She brought a hand to her head and tried to concentrate. "Just this… howling. Sort of like a… Wind?" She frowned and looked up at him expectantly, trusting him to fill in the blanks.

He eyed her intently for a moment, as if he were inspecting her very soul for damage. It made a shiver dance down her spine, and she was glad when his expression shifted to that goofy grin once more. "You did it!"

She blinked a moment, wondering what exactly she did before hazarding a guess. "No more Beast?"

He snapped his fingers in a gesture of finality. "Pit closed. Universe saved." A flicker of the seriousness crossed his face. "All thanks to you."

She blushed a bit, and was about to ask exactly how she'd had anything to do with that when he turned away from her and jammed a button on the TARDIS console.

"You might want to hold on." He said in a tone that was surprisingly cool. "That black hole is going to give us one hell of a fight." And she obeyed instantly, hooking her arms around the seat-backs as she watched him stay miraculously on his feet, the time ship shaking dangerously. He swayed unsteadily on his feet as the room rocked and creaked, operating the controls of his time ship with a single-minded determination.

He threw one last switch, and was in turn thrown forcefully into the wall. Rose's hold on the chairs broke, and she hit the console with a thud before landing slightly less violently on the floor.

Deadly silence reigned then, the TARDIS lights dimmed a bit from usual, and only the very faint thrum of the engines. The quiet was broken by the simultaneous groans of Rose and the Doctor. He struggled to his feet, wincing and rubbing the back of his neck as he moved to check on Rose. "Sorry about that. I think the ol' girl's still a bit sore about falling through a chasm." He offered her his hand, helping the human up as she favored her stomach. "Nothing broken I hope?" He asked with genuine worry.

"Nope, just a bit bruised I think." She said, batting at his hand when he tried to inspect the wound. Straightening and looking about the room she scowled. "Where are we?"

The Doctor's expression froze for a second before becoming determinedly blank. "I'm taking you back." He intoned hollowly, flinching away from her shocked gaze. Immediately her eyes searched his, trying to understand if he was saying what she thought he was.

"Y-You're _what?_" She exclaimed, voice laced with the first hints of panic.

"I want Rose safe…" He muttered almost as if to himself, eyes unnecessarily checking the console before meeting hers again. "I'm taking you back to where you belong." There was no compromise as he gave her that soul-searing look. Only solid determination in his dark brown orbs.

"But I'm safe _here_, with _you_! This is where I belong…" She said brokenly, hysteria coloring her tone. She shook her head in denial of the situation, stepping away from him and slowly backing toward the hallway leading deeper into the TARDIS.

Before she could bolt the Doctor darted forward and caught her arm, dragging her firmly but not too roughly to the time ship's doors. "What you did back there was terribly dangerous. You could have ripped apart your mind. You could have destroyed that planet. You _should_ have, if my gauge on the power back there was right." He pinned her with a piercing stare, and something like suspicion crossed her face before vanishing once more in the pain and rejection.

They were in front of the door, and she gave him a pleading look. "No, please, no… It's not supposed to end like this…"

"It won't." He assured quietly, pulling open one of the doors to show an expansive view of black nothingness with darts of light speeding past the TARDIS before vanishing. "Go home, Bad Wolf. Where you belong."

* * *

**A/N:** A whole chapter! Hoorah! This is the second to last chapter I think, though I may do an epilogue. The ending here may not make much sense, but I'll give you a hint. Rose isn't exactly as fine as she seems… Muahahahaha! I feel evil all of a sudden ending it there, but I hope you guys enjoyed this installment regardless. I'm taking a trip to Chicago for the next couple weeks, so updates will be erratic… Sorry I've never been very stable with them, but my schedule's been all over the place.

Reviews are much-loved! Even if it's just to say you actually read it and thought it wasn't a total and complete waste of time.


	5. Part 5

**A/N:** I'm sorry this had taken so long, but I've been in Chicago for two weeks, and then my computer DIED! Horror of horrors I lost everything! ... for about a week. Then I brought it to the One of Great Comp Skillz. He fixed it for me. -huggles- So sorry it's a bit delayed, but here it is:

The Final Chapter:

**On A Wolf And A Whim**

**Part 5 **Catch Her If She Falls

_By Literary Litany_

* * *

Rose whirled around, suddenly strong enough to easily break his grip as her eyes flashed with a golden-speckled anger. "What are you doing?" She demanded, but already the façade was dropped. The Bad Wolf had been hoping to leave him out of things, but it looked like the Doctor had gotten himself involved. 

"I'm making sure you don't destroy the universe." He said, with that deadly calm in his voice. "You brought the Beast into my ship. You were going to set it _free_." Anger and rage like he'd rarely shown bubbled just under the surface, evident, he was sure, to that perceptive creature before him.

"I caged the Beast!" It protested with that pleading tone Rose used to so easily sway him. It only served to strengthen his anger. "It can't get out until-"

"Until you release it on some unsuspecting world?" He demanded, voice harsh. "Or until it eats its way through its cage to what's left of Rose's mind after what you've done to her?"

"No! I haven't harmed Rose! I keep her separated, keep her safe." The wild look of desperation eked its way into the Bad Wolf's gaze. It needed him to believe her. It couldn't harm Rose.

"You're using her to cage the Beast! Whether her mind is safe from it or not," His voice was laced with his disbelief of her assurances, and she almost interrupted. "Her body can't take this. It'll destroy her."

"I've healed the body. Made it stronger." She said in a tone that dared him to contradict her.

He shook his head, the anger flashing in his eyes before he could again curb the flow of emotion. It was trying to get him caught on the smaller points, trying to distract him. He couldn't let that happen. "Good, then you can leave, and Rose will still be safe."

"But I _am_ Rose!" She took a step toward him, reaching for his hand even as he winced away and stuck both in his pockets.

"Don't." He warned, and the look on her face ceased to be Rose's any more. Instead it was full of an arrogance that had never been hers.

"But I am her. I am what the universe had made of her. A Rose without ignorance."

The Doctor shook his head, anger giving way a bit to a sadness that might have been born of pity. "I'm afraid you're not. Because you didn't come from Rose's link to the Time Vortex." His gaze became intense enough to affect even the confident and powerful Wolf. "You're just the remnant of a wish with the power of the black hole to draw on." That gaze shifted once more: out into the void behind her. "My guess is you're part of the fail-safes the planet had. It locks on to the closest power with good intentions and gives it a boost."

Her head shook violently, and she took a step away from him and closer to the horizon of the black hole. A fleeting look of pain and denial crossed her features. "It can't be true… Can't be…" Her voice died quickly, eyes glowing golden as she watched the flickers of light in the darkness.

He watched her watching it, and took a calming breath, anger no longer visible. "You have to go. Take the Beast with you, and go."

Her head snapped back to face him. "I don't want to die."

His expression was infinitely sad. "No one does." He took a step back from her, from the image of Rose afraid of death, but still so strong. "You know the alternatives. The final choice is up to you."

There is a pause during which he thinks he can almost hear the raging wind of that dangerous black hole outside. That's impossible, of course. Black Holes don't have a sound, at least not normal ones, but he thinks he hears it all the same.

He'd never liked to do this. To ask others to die. It wasn't fair that the universe kept making him do it. Why couldn't the Bad Wolf have been like Pete Tyler and figured it out for itself? Now, there was a selfish thought. He wanted Rose back, and that had been clouding his judgment. Maybe there was another way he was missing…?

"I'll go." She managed with the aged look that he'd been known to wear on occasion. "But first…" She trailed off with an indecipherable look in those luminous orbs. He wasn't ready for what happened next.

She kissed him.

* * *

A burst of light and color danced before his eyes and he could feel the Bad Wolf in his mind as well as on his lips. _Tell her._ It demanded, willing him to believe that Rose could be his. Showing him through Rose's mind how much she wanted it too. 

_All that was._ His own pain at the many times he'd almost lost her drove into his heart like a knife, followed shortly by another pain, compounded by fear: All the times Rose had almost lost him.

"What use are emotions if you will not save the woman you love?" The Dalek's question morphed meanings when echoed by the Bad Wolf. What use was loving her, if she never knew?

"I've got the moves, but I wouldn't want to boast."

"C'mon then. Show me your moves." She'd invited him time and again. Tried jealousy to rouse him, and assumed he was like any other man who would just act on his feelings. He'd almost managed to convince her there weren't any a few times.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm always alright." But he wasn't.

_All that is._ Her smile, that cheeky grin, a selfless devotion to him, and a thirst for life as unquenchable as his own. He could see her vividly, feel all that made him care for her almost as though he could touch it…

_All that ever could be._ He could hear Rose's laugh, rising with his own as they watched a quadruple sunset on the beach at Cholros. He'd found where she was most ticklish, along her ribs, and as he cease his attack the laughter slowly died away. He still had her pinned though, hovering just over her as they lay in the sand. He met her gaze with one of those rare serious expressions. "You'll stay with me?" There was a hint of disbelief in the question.

"Forever." She breathed, the air tickling onto his face, and he couldn't tell who had initiated the kiss, only that it was happening. Not the first, and certainly not the last.

The touch, both mentally and physically, was gone. Those intent and determined alien eyes watched him, and it took a step back toward the void. "Catch her when she falls." It asked, more a command than a plea. He nodded mutely, and she turned to face the black hole that had, in a way, created her.

A light, brilliant and shining drifted from Rose's form, making her skin glow as the radiance brightened. It streamed out of her, not quickly, but with the steadiness of someone releasing a deep breath. After a moment though, the slow pace of the moving light seemed almost to shudder to a halt as a flicker of reddish darkness shot through the golden flow. The Doctor held his breath, knowing this would be the moment to 'make or break' them. Bad Wolf against the Beast.

The Beast was stronger, more raw power and experience, but the Bad Wolf was so close to its source now. All it had to do was hold on. Keep the Beast with it until it could travel that infinitesimal amount of space into the Black Hole. The Doctor watched the light as it moved, as if in slow motion, condensing into a cloud of raging colors before the door of the TARDIS. One centimeter that way. Two the other.

He didn't even catch the final movement, when all of it suddenly shot straight out into the hungry empty void. It disappeared, like all the other light and matter moving into it, into nothing, to become nothing. Or so was the assumption. Maybe, as Rose suggested, it did lead to another world. Or maybe it was just empty space, to leave the Bad Wolf fighting the Beast forever.

Another pang of guilt struck. It wasn't death he'd sent her/it to. It was something worse. Something without hope.

It was then that the still standing figure of Rose began to topple, and he had to be quick on his feet to keep his promise to catch her. Laying her out on the grating he shut the doors to his time ship before returning to her side and stooping over her.

Almost out of habit his sonic screwdriver found its way into his hand, and he took quick stock of her vital signs with it. A bit out of sorts with breathing and heart-beat, but nothing moving into the dangerous levels. He let out the breath he hadn't noticed he'd been holding, slumping in partial exhaustion onto the floor next to her.

They'd made it out alive. Impossible as that sounded.

He glanced once more at Rose's unconscious form. Asleep, he convinced himself. Just asleep.

He wouldn't yet let himself consider the possibility that the Bad Wolf had taken her with it.

* * *

**A/N:** Heh, heh. Please, don't kill me. Yes, this is the last chapter. Yes, I am an evil, EVIL fanfic writer, but I blame it completely on my friends. They told me to make it a cliffie, well, more demanded(they had plastic swords pointed at me!). Anyway, last chapter yes, but I might do an epilogue, and will almost positively do a sequel, but it might be awhile. I have two other multi-chap fics I've been working on that I've wanted to get posted, but have been waiting for this one to end. So, yeah. 

A wonderful thank you to everyone who reviewed, and even those of you who just read it, bringing up the hit count. It warms my heart and gives me the fuzzy-wuzzies to hear all the magnificent feed-back. You guys keep my hopes up.

A big thanks to my one and only Beta: CottonCandy Sky


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